1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a live bacteria liquid product applicator and more particularly to an applicator for applying a live bacteria product to a target host wherein live bacteria, that are in a dormant state, are suspended in a clear liquid fluid carrier. This invention also relates to a remote management system for one or more of the product applicators.
2. Description of the Related Art
Live bacteria formulations are frequently applied to forage products or feed to enhance the forage product or feed. The prior art products fall generally into two categories which are either a dry soluble powder form or a dry granular non-soluble form. The dry granular products are directly applied to a forage through a metering device such as a Gandy box, usually at a rate of 4 to 16 ounces per ton of forage treated. The dry soluble products must first be hydrated with water, then applied to the forage within a 48-hour period post-hydration through a liquid pump system at the rate of 4 ounces to 1 gallon per ton of forage.
The dry granular products of the prior art, even if packaged in either paper bags or plastic pails, will sometimes come into direct contact with ambient air during manufacturing and processing or upon simply opening the product lid with the ambient air containing moisture or humidity. The moisture or humidity will activate the dormant bacteria upon contact, which in turn causes the bacteria to inadvertently live and die before it can be applied to its target host. If so, the value of the product will then be a total loss. Limestone carriers of the prior art products also carry minute traces of moisture, and such moisture severely reduces the product's ability to sustain an adequate shelf life. If the prior art product is a soluble powder product, it will also need to be hydrated before application. The hydration immediately activates all of the dormant bacteria and the producer has to apply the entire mixture within a 48-hour time frame or before since the bacteria will naturally deplete its food source and die, creating a total loss of the product value.
Further, the prior art products on the market today must be either removed from their original shipping container and/or physically poured into a dry applicator prior to application, or they must be contaminated with water, reducing their shelf life to less than 48 hours, post-contamination. Additionally, the prior art dry granular products have a tendency of sorting during shipment. This shakes any fines to the bottom of the shipping container or applicator leaving the either larger or lighter material to work its way to the top. Since the bacteria attach themselves to these particles, they may also migrate with these particles. This situation usually also causes the product in an applicator to compact. Product compaction also causes applicator failure due to the lack of product flow. The prior art dry granular products also require a significant percentage of the product to be applied to the target host to increase its ability of uniform coverage. As the volumes or rates decrease to meet the product's needs, so does the product's ability of achieving a uniform coverage. Prior art rates are from 1/10th of a pound to one-pound application rates. Other dry soluble powder products may settle to the bottom of the applicator tank upon hydration. This will depend greatly on the product's rate of dilution. As application rates decrease to meet the producer's ongoing needs of hauling less product to the field, the manufacturers must in turn make their products more condensed to meet the active ingredient needs. Such limits the solubility of the product.
Dry soluble powders mixed with water carriers have attempted to achieve low inclusion rates for some time. However, such products result in droplets which are very large in their molecular size and weight resulting in that there are actually few droplets being delivered per one ton of forage treated so uniform coverage is poor.
The applicators of the prior art suffer from many disadvantages. To the best of applicant's knowledge, the prior art applicators today are not able to apply a live bacteria product, such as described in applicant's co-pending application entitled “LIVE BACTERIA PRODUCT,” Ser. No. 10/853,346, filed May 25, 2004, to the target host which may be forage, feed, livestock, etc. One of the prior art applicators, after product rehydration, simply drips the active solution onto the forage. This applicator needs periodic cleaning and produces droplets that are very large in their molecular size and weight which means that there are actually very few droplets being delivered per one ton of forage, creating non-uniform coverage patterns. In another prior art applicator, after rehydrated product is pumped and sprayed through the applicator nozzles as product densities increase, product solubility decreases, causing settling of active ingredients. These applicators also require frequent cleaning of the same.
In applicant's parent application, Ser. No. 10/858,762 filed Jun. 2, 2004, the liquid product to be applied was pumped to the product applicator by a peristaltic pump. Applicant has discovered that a progressive cavity pump more precisely pumps the liquid product to the product applicator.